New CO Laws—Unintended Consequences for SASS Shooters!

[Wolf Bane, SASS 13557]

I note that since the last time I checked the Wire, all the political material has been pulled down. I figure this'll be pulled down, too.

 

Before it is, there are things Colorado cowboys need to know. I spent all day yesterday with attorneys, specifically discussing CO HB 1229, the so-called "Universal Background Check" law, which will be voted on in the House FRIDAY, as in TOMORROW.

 

There is a "Trojan Horse" provision in that law that redefines how "sale" is defined, widening it to the broader term of "transfers." The Cliff Notes version, under the new law if I am standing on my property and I hand an empty, unloaded 1873 rifle to a pard so he can check out the trigger...I have committed a Class 1 Misdemeanor by "transferring" the gun, and my pard has committed a Class 1 Misdemeanor by "accepting" it. Both parties could go to jail for a year and would also be barred from possessing firearms for 2 years from the date of conviction.

 

If you shoot ON YOUR OWN PROPERTY — as do I and lots of other cowboys I know — it is still a Class 1 Misdemeanor transfer to allow someone to handle or shoot your guns. If you live with your Significant Other without the benefit of matrimony, as I do with Indiana Jackson, if she shoots one of my guns it is an "illegal transfer" and a crime. If I even ask her to shoot one of my guns, it is a crime. If we are in a home invasion situation and she uses one of my guns, it is an "affirmative defense" exception because her life was threatened, but she will still have to go to court and through the system to prove it (that's what an affirmative defense is...you get off in the end, but you still get charged, go to a judge or even to trial and get to spend the thousands of $$$ on legal fees before you walk out of the building).

 

There is an exemption for matches, but ONLY if the matches are held on a "legal" shooting range and ONLY if sponsored by either a state agency or a non-profit sponsoring organization.

 

Hmmmmm...I wonder if any of us know of a sport sponsored by a for-profit sanctioning organization...no, wait! SASS is a for-profit! As of yesterday, the best interpretation of HB 1229 that I can get is that as SASS is a for-profit corporation, if during a match one of your guns breaks and a friend offers to let you shoot his or her gun for the rest of the match, THAT IS A CRIME, to wit, an illegal transfer of a firearm.

 

Additionally, I and many of my friends have guns tuned and/or repaired by other cowboys who are very good at gunsmithing. For many of them, gunsmithing is strictly a hobby, that is, they do not have a Federal Firearms License (not necessary for in-state or hobby gunsmiths) or hold themselves out to the public for their work. Under HB 1229, giving a firearm to such a person for repair work is an ILLEGAL TRANSFER, and both the shooter and the gunsmith are subject Class 1 Misdemeanor penalties and loss of the right to possess firearms for 2 years! By the strict reading of this bill, you can't even help someone clear a jam, because any time the gun leaves your hand it is a "transfer."

 

Feel free to explain to me that these laws won't be enforced...I talked to representatives of the Colorado Sheriffs' Association and they told me flat out that they would refuse to enforce them. But the law will still hang there like the Sword of Damocles...and sooner or later all swords get used.

 

Contact your state representatives right now and tell them to vote NO!

 

This is real bad juju, and it effects every one of us who shoot cowboy matches in Colorado!

 

Wolf Bane

SASS13557

[Monco]

I think the more political threads have just been moved to the new "Team Sass" forum Wolf. That a way it is easier to keep the politics and SASS Info separate.

 

In response to your very related post.....I think the new proposal is complete and utter garbage. I'd likely be breaking another law from time to time if passed and I come shoot in Colorado.

[Barry Sloe]

We're being attacked from multiple sides and different levels.

 

Dig in,

Barry Sloe

[Wolf Bane, SASS 13557]

I hope this post stays on the main Forum, because it's info the clubs need to know!

 

Wolf Bane

[Jabez Cowboy,SASS # 50129]

And you all think We Canadian's have it BAD .....

 

This is far worse than anything We have ........

 

 

 

 

Jabez Cowboy

[Gunner Gatlin, SASS 10274L]

Posted on my FB - just to get it out there...

 

GG ~

[Ozark Shark]

Wolf Bane,

 

Lots of local clubs are reposting this information to their Facebook and other forums. There's more happening than is visible here.

[Grizzly Dave]

Emails are away.

[Jimmy Reb, SASS #54804]

Does this mean gun shops are all out of business. "You can't look at that until you buy it"?????

[Hacker, SASS #55963]

WB, you must have read a different bill than I just read.

The range exemptions include at least one other entity and that is a entity fostering firearms proficiency.

I also doubt that your reading of the definition of transfer is correct.

Otherwise ALL salesmen are legally transferring ownership of jewelry, rings, cars, etc when showing them to a customer.

Looking at a gun is very different then the LEGAL transfer of ownership.

[Grizzly Dave]

The formatting is very deceiving, make sure you read the right a, b, c etc and don't mix the i, ii, and iii into the other list.

 

FWIW, I don't think gun shops with a FFL would be affected, I could be wrong about that though.

 

Whole thing is vague and difficult if not impossible to enforce. does nothing to curb violent crime, and only imparts such vague and difficult to follow restrictions on law abiding citizens.

[Col. Nathan C. Riddles, SASS # 7462]

^{Guess you and Indiana Jackson better hunt up a parson pronto. Seriously, this will affect all shooters, not just CAS. Hacker, read his first paragraph again; " Before it is, there are things Colorado cowboys need to know. I spent all day yesterday with attorneys, specifically discussing CO HB 1229, the so-called "Universal Background Check" law, which will be voted on in the House FRIDAY, as in TOMORROW.}

^{Suggest you rally all the gun owners you can to the capitol building in Denver tomorrow morning to protest these new proposed laws as gun owners did in Maryland last Friday. They had about 4,000 people show up & speak against the new proposed laws from 8 a.m to 9 p.m. and flabbergasted the governor and legislature.}

[Hacker, SASS #55963]

Riddles, the only persons who have the legal charter to interpret the law are judges.

Were any of the attorneys WB talked with judges? Are you a judge? (in colorado?) Well there ya have it.

 

The rest of us are only expressing our relatively useless opinions.

Useless because the judges will render the final opinions.

 

By the way I am right that WB left out a key clause of the transfer discussion about being at a competetion.

 

And I still think that the concept of transfer is NOT defined well enough to make this whole thing stick based upon the vagueness of what I just read many times.

As well as law already existing.

[Jabez Cowboy,SASS # 50129]

This sounds like just the Kind of Law the Anti's Love ,,,,,,,,, Vague !!!!

 

Open to their interpetation ....

 

They have trouble mis-interpetating,but they try simple straight forward common sense Laws ,,,, BUT THEY CAN SURE TRY !!!!

 

 

 

Jabez Cowboy

[Utah Bob #35998]

Wolfbane, all the 2A discussions have been moved to the Team SASS forum.

http://sassnet.com/forums/index.php?showforum=35

[Colonel Dan, SASS #24025]

Wolf Bane, Monco is exactly right. Once we saw the overwhelming positive response to Team SASS, we had to create a new forum just for our work. Keepiing SASS game discussions separate from our Team SASS mission is important. Everyone interested can now know just where to go...or where to avoid too if they have no interest in fighting this political battle in which we find ourselves.

 

This thread Wolf Bane started and the way you all have responded is exactly what the Team SASS forum was designed to do. Those impacted can now apply extreme heat in great numbers to fight this.

 

SALUTE to Wolf Bane and all who contributed to this thread in the way you have!

 

CD